Confessin'
Popular jazz standard
title: "Confessin'" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["songs-with-lyrics-by-al-j.-neiburg", "perry-como-songs", "1930-songs", "1963-singles", "uk-singles-chart-number-one-singles", "irish-singles-chart-number-one-singles", "judy-garland-songs", "van-morrison-songs", "johnnie-ray-songs", "frank-ifield-songs", "1930s-jazz-standards", "songs-with-music-by-chris-smith-(composer)"] description: "Popular jazz standard" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessin'" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Popular jazz standard ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | (I'm) Confessin' (that I Love You) |
| published | 1930 |
| composer | Chris Smith |
| lyricist | Al J. Neiburg |
| :: |
| name = (I'm) Confessin' (that I Love You) | cover = | alt = | type = | written = | published = 1930 | writer = | composer = Chris Smith | lyricist = Al J. Neiburg | name = Lookin' for Another Sweetie | cover = | alt = | type = | written = | published = 1929 | writer = Chris Smith, Sterling Grant | composer = | lyricist =
"(I'm) Confessin' (that I Love You)" (also known as "Confessin'", "I'm Confessin'" and "Confessin' that I Love You") is a jazz and popular standard that has been recorded many times.
Background
The song was first produced with different lyrics as "Lookin' For Another Sweetie", credited to Chris Smith and Sterling Grant, and recorded by Thomas "Fats" Waller & His Babies on December 18, 1929.
In 1930 it was reborn as "Confessin'", with new lyrics by Al Neiburg, and with the music this time credited to Doc Daugherty and Ellis Reynolds. Louis Armstrong made his first, and highly influential, recording of the song in August 1930, and continued to play it throughout his career. Unlike the crooners, Armstrong did not try to deliver the original song's lyrics or melody; instead, he smeared and dropped lyrics and added melodic scat breaks.
Cover versions
Other important recorded versions were done by:
- Jesse Crawford (1930)
- Chester Gaylord (1930)
- Seger Ellis (1930)
- Guy Lombardo (1930), Rudy Vallee (1930)
- Django Reinhardt (1934)
- Perry Como (1945)
- Les Paul and Mary Ford (1952)
- Ricky Nelson (1957)
- Dean Martin (1964)
- Thelonious Monk (1965)
- Anne Murray (1993)
- Samara Joy (2022)
- The song was also a number one hit for Frank Ifield in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1963.
References
References
- Brothers, Thomas. (2014). "Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism". W.W. Norton & Company.
- Burlingame, Sandra. "I'm Confessin' That I Love You". JazzStandards.com.
- Stephens, Joe. "Victor 78 Record 30000 - 39999 Discography".
- Riccardi, Ricky. "The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong: 80 Years of "Confessin'"".
- "The Louis Armstrong Discography".
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